Editing Putnam County, New York (section)

==Media==
''[[The Journal News]]'' serves the region known as the [[Lower Hudson Valley]], which comprises [[Westchester County, New York|Westchester County]], [[Rockland County, New York|Rockland County]], and Putnam County. ''The Journal News'' is owned by [[Gannett|Gannett Company, Inc.]] Before Gannett merged its local dailies into the ''Journal News'', Putnam County was served by an edition of the ''Reporter Dispatch''.

Putnam County newsreaders were served for generations by the ''Putnam County News and Recorder'', formerly an independently owned newspaper devoted to local affairs. The oversized broadsheet – measuring seventeen by twenty inches – was first published in Cold Spring as ''The Recorder'' in 1866.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Putnam County News & Recorder, Our History|url=http://www.pcnr.com/common/Misc/The_Putnam_County_News__Recorder_Our_History.html|access-date=April 12, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140218212126/http://www.pcnr.com/common/Misc/The_Putnam_County_News__Recorder_Our_History.html|archive-date=February 18, 2014|url-status=dead}}</ref> In July 2008, the local ownership sold the paper to [[Roger Ailes]], chairman of [[Fox News]], who named his wife Elizabeth as the new publisher. The paper altered its editorial content substantially, generating local controversy.<ref>{{Cite magazine |last1=Boyer |first1=Peter J. |year=2011 |title=Fox Among the Chickens |magazine=The New Yorker |publisher=Condé Nast |issue=January 31, 2011 |pages=52–61 |url=http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/01/31/110131fa_fact_boyer |access-date=June 25, 2011 }}</ref> In 2009 the Ailes family also purchased the ''Putnam County Courier'', when it was shut down by [[Journal Register Co.]] (The first issue after publication resumed listed Roger Ailes as owner and chairman, but Elizabeth Ailes has since been identified as the owner). ''The Courier'' was first established as the ''Putnam County Democrat'' in 1841. Under Ailes ownership, the ''Courier'' closed its Carmel office. The ''News and Recorder'' remained a full broadsheet, with a 17-inch-wide front page, until 2017. Both newspapers are now standard-sized broadsheets. The two newspapers share an editor and many of the same stories appear in both. Douglas Cunningham, editor-in-chief of the ''Courier'' and ''News and Recorder'' since 2011, purchased the two papers from the Ailes in December 2016 and became publisher.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Reiner|first1=Dan|title=Ailes family sells Putnam newspapers|url=http://www.lohud.com/story/news/local/putnam/2016/12/13/ailes-sells-putnam-papers/95397948/|website=lohud|publisher=www.lohud.com|access-date=January 1, 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.putnamcountycourier.com/news/2016-12-15/Front_Page/Courier_PCNR_Under_New_Ownership.html|title=Courier, PCNR Under New Ownership|website=The Putnam County Courier|publisher=The Putnam County Courier, LLC|access-date=December 15, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161220140120/http://www.putnamcountycourier.com/news/2016-12-15/Front_Page/Courier_PCNR_Under_New_Ownership.html|archive-date=December 20, 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Two other weeklies are the ''Putnam County Times'' (historically ''Times & Republican'') and ''Putnam County Press'', virtually identical except that the former is distributed free. Both have been owned since 1958 by Don Hall. Hall and Roger Ailes, though both Republicans, are bitter rivals. Hall had long derided Ailes as a part-time resident. When Ailes faced harassment allegations, leading to his ouster from ''Fox News'', his Putnam County connection contributed to his being featured on the front pages of the ''Times'' and ''Press''.

In 2010, Gordon Stewart, a businessman living in Garrison, launched a news website to compete with the Ailes-owned ''PCNR'' called Philipstown.info. In 2012 a print version was launched called ''The Paper''. Shortly Stewart's death in 2014, the publication became a nonprofit led by a board of directors. It changed its name in 2016 to ''The Highlands Current'' to reflect its coverage of neighboring Beacon.